Instagram Is Loving Martha Stewart's Vintage Gingerbread House Tutorial

When it comes to holiday cooking, baking, and decorating, the hostess with the mostess, Martha Stewart, should pop right into your head. Stewart's long list of achievements includes publishing 99 cookbooks, owning a stellar garden, and maintaining a friendship with rapper, Snoop Dogg. For those who may be hosting a holiday party, or just want to upgrade their regular holiday routine, Stewart offers some great seasonal recipes from breakfast to dessert, as well as decorating and gift wrapping tips (per Martha Stewart).

Stewart takes Christmas baking, specifically cookies, very seriously. On her website, if you search "Christmas cookie," thousands of results populate. Some of her all-time favorite Christmas cookies include classics like a sugar cookie, with some lesser-known ones like brown butter cookies. For those who prefer a traditional Christmas, you'd be remiss not to serve some sort of gingerbread. The recipes include gingerbread cheesecake, pancakes, and a Linzer torte. 

While these are all great, the holiday isn't complete without a beautifully decorated gingerbread house. If you've encountered some frustration in building and decorating a gingerbread house, Stewart shares her practical tips and tricks for the perfect gingerbread.

In a throwback video shared on Martha Stewart's Instagram account, she shared her tricks for making edible Christmas tree decorations. Stewart shaped her gingerbread cookies into large stars and moons, which can be hung on the tree when cooked. Her tip for cooking gingerbread cookies that can withstand being used as decorations is to leave out the eggs. Without the eggs, the cookies are harder and firmer, which means they won't easily crumble and will last longer. Stewart uses royal icing frosting to ice the cookies but adds a unique twist. She adds a bit of lemon juice to upgrade the icing and give it a more pleasant flavor. While Stewart uses her cookies to decorate the tree, the cookies could easily be cut and shaped to make a gingerbread house or decorations.

Fans on Instagram couldn't get enough of the video and the cookies. Though the video doesn't say what year it was released, fans were quick to call out its '90s charm. One user wrote, "Those stars and the moon are such a '96 vibe, I know exactly what era were in ..." Another user shared, "Our 26th year of making these." 

While these cookie shapes are classic, Stewart has added an unexpected cookie cutter to her repertoire: marijuana leaf. Luckily for those of us at home, Stewart's cookie recipes will work with any cookie-cutter shape.